Guest Column

By: Dr. Gamini Goonetilleke The contrasting stories of the oil tank farm in Trincomalee and the development of Jurong Island, located to the southwest of mainland Singapore, provide a powerful example of how vision, planning, and governance can shape the destiny of strategic assets. Both locations possess significant geographical advantages and lie along major maritime routes. Yet, while Jurong Island has grown into a global energy and petrochemical hub, the Trincomalee oil tanks have r

By M.R. Narayan Swamy Indian-origin Tamils, descendants of indentured labourers brought to Sri Lanka in the 19th century, are steadily moving away from the tea plantations that once defined their existence. After generations of living a hand-to-mouth existence, many are finding success in new fields emerging as a more empowered ethnic group. Yet, for the tens of thousands who still toil in the tea estates poverty and entrenched racism remain daily realities. Community leaders speak about signi

By M.R. Narayan Swamy It was in 1966 that the Mizo National Front (MNF) launched its guerrilla war against the Indian state. This was nine years before Velupillai Prabhakaran shot dead the Mayor of Jaffna, and a decade before Sri Lanka witnessed the birth of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The comparison is striking not only in timeline but also in scale: Prabhakaran’s envisioned Tamil Eelam spanned roughly 18,000 to 19,000 square kilometres, not far off from Mizoram’s approximatel

By Nilantha Ilangamuwa Never forget: the Iran–Iraq war raged for eight brutal years. Iran survived. Saddam Hussein, once courted by the West for strategic gain, was dragged from his hideout near Tikrit and executed after a deeply flawed Iraqi tribunal. Today, Trump toys with another reckless scheme to destabilise Iran, a continuation of his “decapitation project,” even as Tehran struggles with fractures demanding the immediate redesigning and re‑engineering of its governing structure in the sty

By M.R. Narayan Swamy How did Hindu temples come to dot the skyline in parts of Southeast Asia at a time when Buddhism too was spreading its wings? To answer this, we need to turn to the visionary Pallava kings, who ruled a sprawling region in southern India with Kanchipuram as their capital, overcoming military defeats with patience, confidence, and bravery. And who better to unveil this story than William Dalrymple, one of Scotland’s foremost historians, who has made Delhi his home and has

By: Professor G. L. Peiris I. The Constitutional Context Independence of the judiciary is, without question, an essential element of a functioning democracy. In recognition of this, ample provision is made in the highest law of our country, the Constitution, to engender an environment in which the courts are able to fulfil their public responsibility with total acceptance. As part of this protective apparatus, judges of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal are assured of security of t

By Abbi Kanthasamy Sri Lanka’s real strategic question is not whether it can become “the next Singapore” or a miniature Dubai. It is whether it can finally learn the harder lesson those two city-states teach: that financial centres are not created by tax gimmicks, real-estate spectacle, or patriotic rhetoric. They are built by states that become credible before they become glamorous. In 2026, that distinction is even more important than it was a generation ago. The old haven model—low tax, ligh